An inkjet-recording device well known in the art has a recording head and is configured to record images on sheets by ejecting ink stored in an ink cartridge onto the sheets through nozzles formed in the recording head. When ink in the ink cartridge is consumed through image-recording operations performed by the inkjet-recording device, the empty ink cartridge is removed and replaced with a new ink cartridge filled with ink.
One ink cartridge known in the art has an ink supply chamber that can provide communication between an ink chamber storing ink and the exterior of the ink cartridge. One end of the ink supply chamber is in communication with the ink chamber, while the other end is in communication with the exterior of the ink cartridge through an ink outlet. Within the ink supply chamber, a valve member is disposed. The valve member can move to open and close the ink outlet, controlling whether ink stored in the ink chamber can be supplied out of the ink cartridge. The ink cartridge having this construction is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-62377.
Another conventional ink cartridge includes an ink supply part for supplying ink through an ink channel, and an air communication part that can provide communication between a layer of air in an ink chamber that stores ink and the exterior of the ink cartridge through an air channel. The air communication part is closed when the ink cartridge is stored so that the ink chamber is kept enclosed. When the ink cartridge is mounted in an inkjet-recording device, the air communication part is opened so that the ink chamber can communicate with external air.
Japanese Patent No. 4506301 discloses an ink cartridge that employs a single valve mechanism for opening and closing both the ink channel and the air channel.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-300330 describes an ink cartridge having a structure that opens the air communication part to external air before the ink supply part can communicate with the recording head. The air communication part is preferably opened to the external air before the ink supply unit is in communication with the recording head. This is because, if the air communication part were to be opened to the external air after the ink supply part becomes in communication with the recording head when the ink cartridge is in a high-altitude region in which the atmospheric pressure is lower than the internal pressure of the ink chamber, an excessive amount of ink may be supplied from the ink chamber to the recording head, causing ink meniscus in individual nozzles of the recording head to break.